dumfries-1920/04-097

Transcription

CAERLAVEROCK.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [CAERLAVEROCK.

by a pent-house roof, which were entered from
doorways in the staircase.
The gallery which adjoins this stair is con-
temporaneous. it projects over the pend,
and is borne on a segmental arch set on lofty
piers. On the ingoing of the west pier a date,
apparently 1595, is roughly incised some 4 feet
6 inches above the ground. The soffit of the
arch is moulded and is pierced by the slot in
which ran the portcullis, which was worked
from the gallery. The mouldings of this arch
and of the windows inserted in the south wall
of the gatehouse, within the recess formed by
the piers, are of a common early 16th-century
type.
Against the east and south curtains were
probably subsidiary buildings, which were
converted in the early 17th century into the
principal residential apartments in accordance
with the enhanced requirements of that age
(fig. 23).
The courtyard façades of these two wings
must in their entirety have formed an ex-
quisite little Renaissance composition, so
admirable is the proportion and grouping
of the surviving architectural detail. Un-
fortunately only a small portion - that abut-
ting against the gatehouse - stands complete to
the wall-head. The remainder is less than one
storey high. The setting out is symmetrical;
the small windows at the northern end of the
east wing being repeated on the south. Be-
neath the wall-head, which is surmounted by
a moulded cornice, were three storeys, and an
attic was contained within the steeply-pitched
roof. The chimney-flues are taken into high
square stacks set diagonally on their seating.
The windows are extremely ornate; those on
the ground floor have moulded and fluted
architraves. On the upper floors the jambs
have slight rusticated engaged shafts, which
rest on little corbel bases and terminate in
Ionic capitals beneath cornices and pediments,
segmental and triangular, containing heraldic
achievements and representations of subjects
from classical mythology.
The hall occupied the eastern portion of the
south wing, and is reached from the courtyard
by an arched entrance projecting slightly from
the face of the wall. The doorway (fig. 24)
has splayed jambs, daintily moulded, termina-
ting in stops at the step and in foliaceous
carving under heavy imposts from which the

arch springs. The mouldings of the arch are
slight, but are enriched with the egg-and-
dart, bead-and-spinnel, and other motifs. A
recessed circular panel occupies each spandrel.
The rude pilasters on each side of the door-
way are modern; the bases and east capital
have apparently been taken from some
other portion of the building. The keystone
of the arch is incomplete. The original
keystone would be shaped as a console, bear-
ing the projection of the architrave, frieze,
and cornice, which occurs here and over the
pilasters.
There are two windows east of the entrance.
The nearer is incomplete and has fluted archi-
traves. The farther, a blind window, is more
elaborate and has fluted jambs and a moulded
architrave and cornice, between which is
sculptured, on the frieze, a cherub's head with
widely distended wings.
The hall has been a noble apartment 17 feet
high, as a moulded cornice on the east wall
shows. The jambs of the doorways and
windows were ornamented with bead-and-
hollow mouldings. A partition on the west
separated the hall from a withdrawing-room.
A doorway in the south-east angle opens on
a wheel-stair, through which the east basal
tower was entered. The fireplace is situated
in the north wall, in front of the blind window.
The protecting jambs, shaped like trusses or
consoles , are almost buried beneath the
ground.
East of the fireplace a lofty archway gives
access to the main staircase, which is con-
tained within the east wing, communicating
with the first-floor apartments of that and the
south wing. A doorway beside the entrance
to the staircase leads under the upper flight
of steps to the kitchen offices in the basement
of the east wing.These consist of a well-
room and bakery, a kitchen and a servery, all
with barrrel-vaulted ceilings. The two former
chambers had separate entrances from the
courtyard. A service wheel-stair is contained
within the angle of the gatehouse and the east
pier supporting the gallery, and communi-
cates with the upper floors of the east wing
and, by doors inserted in the south wall, with
the gatehouse.
The first floor is entered from a doorway off
the main staircase leading through the well of
a wheel-stair which ascends to the floors above.

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